IV 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 682 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding worker protections in Qatar and the 2022 Fe ́de ́ration Internationale de Football 

Association (FIFA) World Cup. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 24, 2014 

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California (for himself, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. 

SWALWELL of California, Mr. LEWIS, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. 

VAN HOLLEN, Mr. POCAN, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. KENNEDY, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. NORTON, and Ms. SCHAKOWSKY) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding worker protections in Qatar and the 2022 Fe ́de ́ration 

Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World 

Cup. 

Whereas Qatar has the highest per capita income of any 

country in the world and plans to build some 

$200,000,000,000 dollars in infrastructure in preparation 

for the 2022 Fe ́de ́ration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup; 

Whereas of the 1,350,000 workers in Qatar, approximately 

94 percent of the workforce, are foreign nationals emVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:01 Jul 25, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR682.IH HR682

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•HRES 682 IH 

ployed mainly in the construction, services, and domestic 

services sector; 

Whereas Qatar has the highest ratio of migrant workers to 

the domestic population of any country in the world and 

at least 500,000 more migrant workers are expected in 

Qatar to accelerate the construction in preparation of the 

2022 football World Cup; 

Whereas the majority of migrant workers come from India 

and Nepal, but also from Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka; 

Whereas according to figures from the Embassies of India 

and Nepal in Qatar, an average of 200 workers from 

each of those 2 countries die each year; 

Whereas according to the coordinator of the Nepalese community in the Middle East, Narinra Bad, 70 Nepalese 

workers died at their workplace since 2012, while the 

Pravasi Nepali Coordination Committee (PNCC) has documented the deaths of at least 185 Nepalese workers in 

2013; 

Whereas the visa sponsorship rules known as the ‘‘kafala-system’’ mean that workers cannot change jobs without 

their employer’s permission and cannot leave the country 

unless their employer signs an exit permit; 

Whereas the ‘‘kafala-system’’ is often exploited as employers 

withhold the workers’ passports and wages, as well as 

workers being charged fees as high as $3,500 to obtain 

a visa from the sponsor leaving the migrant workers with 

excessively high debts; 

Whereas hundreds of unlicensed labor agents are operating in 

Qatar; 


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•HRES 682 IH 

Whereas there are reports of further violation of workers’ 

rights in Qatar, including false promises on the nature 

and type of work by recruiters and sponsors, employer 

obligations on wages and working conditions not being 

met, workers being forced to live in squalid overcrowded 

labor camps, and denial of the right to form unions or 

bargain collectively; and 

Whereas the United States Department of State has designated Qatar as not meeting the minimum standards 

outlined in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2013, but recognizes that they are making 

significant efforts to comply with those standards: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) calls on the United States to prioritize the 

3 rights of migrant workers in their relations with 

4 Qatar by offering technical assistance and expertise 

5 in combating human trafficking and the provision of 

6 victim-centered services including a linguistically ap7 propriate and well publicized 24-hour hotline service; 

8 (2) calls on the United States corporations in9 volved in constructing stadiums and other World 

10 Cup related infrastructure in Qatar to ensure work11 ing conditions are in compliance with international 

12 human rights standards and norms by holding sub13 contractors accountable for labor violations at every 

14 level of the supply chain and incorporating mechaVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:01 Jul 25, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR682.IH HR682

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•HRES 682 IH 

1 nisms for enforcement of these contractual obliga2 tions; 

3 (3) calls on the Qatari authorities to effectively 

4 implement existing legislation and enact new legisla5 tion to prevent human rights violations by— 

6 (A) enforcing the prohibition against the 

7 confiscation of passports; 

8 (B) prosecuting violations and imposing 

9 meaningful sanctions on companies and individ10 uals who violate laws designed to protect mi11 grants’ rights; 

12 (C) adopting legislation on domestic work13 ers that include meaningful labour rights’ pro14 tection consistent with International Labour 

15 Organization Convention 189 and effective com16 pliance mechanisms and establishing a min17 imum wage for all workers; 

18 (D) abolishing the sponsorship system 

19 (‘‘kafala-system’’) including by repealing the 

20 need for an ‘‘exit permit’’ (to leave the country) 

21 or a ‘‘No Objection Certificate’’ to change em22 ployer, and replace it by a regulated labor mar23 ket; 


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•HRES 682 IH 

1 (E) allowing migrant workers to fully exer2 cise the right to freedom of association, to orga3 nize, and bargain collectively; 

4 (F) ending the prosecution of migrant 

5 workers for the sole purpose of having ‘‘run 

6 away’’ from their employer, and calling on the 

7 Qatari authorities to stop such practices; and 

8 (G) providing all migrants deprived of 

9 their liberty a means of contacting their family, 

10 consular services, access to a lawyer and inter11 preter, and the right to promptly challenge 

12 their detention; 

13 (4) calls on the migrant laborers countries of 

14 origin, notably Bangladesh, India, Nepal, the Phil15 ippines, and Sri Lanka, to assume their responsi16 bility to protect their own nationals from deceptive 

17 recruitment agencies in their countries and intervene 

18 on behalf of their nationals whose rights are abused 

19 when working in Qatar and other Persian Gulf 

20 States by— 

21 (A) promulgating and enforcing laws 

22 against unscrupulous recruitment practices; and 

23 (B) informing migrant workers of their 

24 rights before they leave the country; and 


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•HRES 682 IH 

1 (5) urges the Fe ́de ́ration Internationale de 

2 Football Association (FIFA) that the World Cup be 

3 a symbol of global cooperation and deliver a strong 

4 message to Qatar to make sure that the 2022 World 

5 Cup is not staged with the assistance of modern 

6 slavery by continuing the organizations involvement 

7 in Qatar and advocate for fair labor practices on all 

8 World Cup related projects. 

Æ 


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